Dance Magic Dance
by Legendarypanda
Summary: On the night before the second task Hermione finds Harry in the library instead of Moody, how will this change things? For John. Harry/Hermione


Dance Magic Dance

A Harry Potter Fanfic

By Legendarypanda

**Chapter one**

_Mudbloods and Marigolds_

Harry Potter was exhausted.

The stress of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament was still wearing on him. The roar of the Hungarian Horntail still giving him nightmares when he thought about it. Ron thought he was such a wimpy lout for complaining but, Harry pointed out, that he was not the one who had almost been turned from Harry Potter into Harry Pork-Roast. Not that he ever said this aloud or to Ron's face, he more just thought it and flipped his mate off behind his back when he happened to hear him as he slumped his way back to the dormitory to pass out. Dream of Dragons and the graveyard and whatever else happened to be knocking around his head at that moment. Only to wake up and feel the briefest moment of relief that he remembered the first task was over.

Only to look at the golden egg under his bed, have no idea what to do with it and groan in frustration as he realized the second was fast approaching and now he had to find a date for the Yule Ball. He'd thought that would have been the easy part. Being a famous wizard and all that, but no, he had as much luck now as he did with everything else in his life. His parents were gone, he was possibly the most unpopular boy in school and to make matters worse; he now had to make a complete imbecile of himself in front of the whole school prancing about like some idiot. Bad enough that he was short and skinny for his age but now he had to be rejected by _every _single girl in the ruddy castle in favor of the handsome and famous, as well as romantic wizards from foreign parts.

The Beauxbatons boys and their fancy accents, and Cedric Diggory and his strapping, tall, dark, handsome figure. Harry did not stand a chance and yet none of the Professors seemed to care about this and insisted that as a selected representative of Hogwarts he was going to dance whether he liked it or not. That if he did not have a date, Professor Mcgonagall would be happy to accompany him to the dance so that he did not need to make a fool of himself. Harry had smiled politely and nodded, unable to tell the head of house that he could not think of any worse fate than bringing one's teacher to a dance in front of the entire student body. But if he did not find someone soon that was precisely what was going to happen.

He could just imagine the humiliation that would come when an already bullied teenage boy who did not even want to be a champion to begin with would get when he showed up with a teacher on his arm. Wasn't it bad enough that he was an orphan with a mass murderer constantly trying to get to him and now he had to deal with Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy and his stupid badges flashing, 'support Cedric Diggory the real Hogwarts champion' all over the place. If word got out that the Famous Harry Potter was just as bad at getting a date as he was at the basic things when it came to his current position; then 'Potter stinks' would be the closest thing to a compliment he might ever hear again. He had almost forgotten what that felt like to have fun or to be happy. His days consumed with classes and work and preparations, nights filled with nightmares and pacing the floor of the common room.

Sometimes, Harry wanted to just get into trouble, just to break up the monotony of the whole situation but he did not see the point. There was a lot less laughter and joy as of late when he had to prepare for a task and his best friend was not around to get into trouble with. Although was Ron really his friend anymore? It was a sad fact that he had not spoken to Ronald in weeks and he missed his friend terribly. But he was just so cruel and unsympathetic for the things Harry had no control over. He didn't ask for any of this, he did not want to be a wizard, a hero, an orphan, a champion or anything else. He just wanted to, well he did not know what he wanted but it sure as hell was not this! Ron did not seem to notice or care about the fact that Harry did not have a choice in the matter and had already almost been killed at least once a year every year for the past four years running.

Two-headed evil professors and three headed dogs, dragons, things that most teenagers have never even seen were supposed to be easy for him to handle because he was a hero but sometimes it just seemed impossible. Like if he took one misstep he was going to end up causing some zombie apocalypse or something like that. He knew zombies were not real but hell, Harry thought, he would have believed anything at this point. He had seen enough strange things in the streets and alleyways of Diagon Alley to believe that the third task may very well be to kill a zombie or something. Which meant he was grossly unprepared just like with everything else, and Hermione would have to teach him a blasting charm or something.

If that wasn't bad enough, he now had to figure out some way to breathe underwater for an hour when the most he could do was to hold his breath for thirty seconds when he was swimming with his friends in the lake during the Easter Holidays. He was a wizard, not a merman for Merlin's sake! It was bad enough he had to deal with all these other things and now they wanted him to sprout bloody fins or something! Of course if you asked Harry he would have told you it was fine because that's how it was supposed to be: just bloody fine no matter what they threw against him. Werewolves, sure, diaries with homicidal maniacs who were hell bent on destroying him, no problem. Hell, he had weathered everything else, just fine so why should this be any different?

What was a little lake filled with all kinds of dangerous magical creatures? It was as easy as a little game of quidditch or tackling a mountain troll at eleven years old. Now, he had conquered a dragon and taken the golden egg from it without so much as a scratch. Couple scrapes, a little bruised up, sure but no mortal injuries. In the eyes of the school, the famous Harry Potter was nothing short of invisible. Problem was, he had never felt more vulnerable in his life. He felt so alone, so confused and so tired that he almost wished the dark Lord would come back and strike him dead so that he could rest in peace. He wanted some peace and quiet and he wanted to have fun and be fourteen. He did not want to have to dive into the lake and deal with possibly homicidal creatures and swim around, looking for Merlin only knew what!

Harry's head hurt like the bloody devil and it did not show any signs of slowing down. Ron wasn't much help either. His jealousy at Harry's selection for championship was still a sore point between the two of them and thus still not talking to him. Which meant the only person he really had to talk to was Neville Who while, very pleasant company certainly, was clinically obsessed with herbology and just would not shut up about it. It was bad enough that Cedric Diggory had told him how to open the egg but now, he had to figure out how to solve the blasted thing without making his headache even worse and so he was stuck with Neville droning on and on about gillyweed while he could hardly keep his eyes open. The clock on the wall telling him it was well-passed ten in the evening and his body would soon turn on the nightmare channel whether he liked it or not.

His sleep was always involuntary nowadays, one minute he was trying to focus and the next he was passed out cold and woken up by portraits whining about how loudly he snored and late for classes. He would dress in a hurry and then begin his none-stop day, classes where the workload was relentless and not to mention, quidditch, classes, Snape breathing down his neck and everyone always trying to kill him at every was enough to give a grown man an ulcer, let alone a fourteen-year-old boy. Harry was sure he was going to have one if he didn't already; and..._and _this was the worst part. He still did not have a date and he was not he repeated, **not **taking Moaning Myrtle. He did not care how desperate he was, a ghost was where he drew the line.

Right now, he was attempting to find some way to breathe underwater, guessing that it had something to do with swimming or such like. Neville was droning on and on and on, something about the many uses of centar dung when it came to fertilization of the plants and such and Harry felt his head drooping. He struggled to prop his head up but the sleeves of his shirt felt unnaturally warm and soft all of a sudden. Then it was a repeat of it, he was sound asleep and Neville, realizing his captive audience was no longer listening to him, left to beg the password off some other Gryffindor who was heading to bed. Harry was far too busy drooling on his copy of _Breathing Spells for the Competent Airhead_ to notice anyway and only woke up when he felt someone rubbing his back in small circles to wake him up.

"Harry!" said a familiar voice, "Harry!"

He opened his eyes, blearily and blinked between the lines of his eyes as he tried to focus. He wanted to sleep. Not just collapse but really sleep like he had not done in months now. But he knew that voice, those brown eyes and that bushy brown hair. Hermione. Of course, who else would be in the library at this hour besides him? He looked at the clock and saw much to his own surprise that it was half past midnight. How in the blazes had she gotten down here all by herself. In the middle of the night? Without getting caught? His head was spinning. But he had to admit that he was happy to see her and not Filch as the first thing he woke up to. More than once over the passed weeks, he had been woken up by the long wet snout of Mrs. Norris, nudging and hissing at him and staring at him with those beady yellow eyes of hers which frankly gave Harry the skeeves. It was not that Harry hated cats, he loved them, especially black ones which reminded him of Harry yawned and groaned as the right arm of his glasses pressed into the side of his face. Leaving a nasty red mark across his cheek which was going to sting for a while he was adjusted them to fit back over his ears and nose and stood up before remembering that he should ask the obvious question.

"What are you doing here?" he asked scratching his head grumpily.

"Harry! I was worried about you! No one has seen you for hours and you know how dangerous it is for you to be wandering about at night." she fussed, "Especially with Pettigrew on the loose."

Hermione was not having it, she threw off the invisibility cloak which she had been wearing somehow although in truth he really did not care how she got there he was just happy to see someone other than Neville for a change. Even if it was Hermione looking all grumpy and disgruntled. At least she was a familiar face and he knew she only fussed at him because she cared. Why else would she be here in the middle of the night looking for him when she ought to be in bed. Merlin only knew what would happen if she got caught or something. Filch was always prowling about about after hours, hoping to catch and punish wayward students who were out for a snog or something. And he was_ not _Harry's biggest fan.

In fact it could be very well said that Filch hated him ever since that time in second year when his cat had been petrified. To catch one of his closest friends would be second best to nabbing loved Hermione to death but he knew her and if she got in trouble the emotional impact was bound to be catastrophic to her psyche; and although she was one of the strongest people he had ever met, Hermione was liable to go to pieces if she got sent before the headmaster and threatened with disciplinary action. She was brave as any Gryffindor to come down at this hour. And the fact that she had risked all that just to make sure he was okay, for some reason Harry found that oddly touching and hoped she did not see the tear going down his eye.

She didn't, thank Merlin for small favors but she did look rather perturbed at him for A) not being in bed where they both knew he ought to be and B) had still not answered her question. Well it was more of a statement really but all the same. He hugged her. Not only because he was feeling emotional and tired but because he could not remember the last time he had been hugged by anyone other than her and he wanted to feel like someone cared about him. Someone who wanted him to live not for their own selfish reasons but just because they cared about him. He had not known until that moment just how badly he had missed the feeling of a hug till she had given him one. And for some reason, he just felt like he needed another one. Hermione held him just a little tighter than she normally would have because she had a feeling he needed it more than ever. Quickly pulling the cloak over both of them so they would not get caught.

She smiled at him conspiratorially as she set about answering his question before he had the chance to ask it, "You left the cloak on an armchair in the common room and when I asked Ron he said-well he said a lot of things-but basically he had no idea where you are so I grabbed it and went out looking."

It took Harry a moment to realize that she was still holding him with one arm as he let his eyes adjust to the dark as they headed back toward the Gryffindor common room. Not failing to notice that, in the dark when he thought she couldn't see him, he had reached down to hold her hand. Hermione stopped and looked at him, her brown eyes meeting his green ones and the torchlight of the hallway. He noticed that she was pretty in that moment which was not something that was lost on him but in his teenage brain he had often ignored it. Harry allowed his fingers to curl around hers and noticed she did not refuse the contact or pull away. It felt nice to have someone hold his hand, give him comfort.

Protect him. In that moment, something overcame Harry and he leaned in, Hermione's breath caught and she shyly looked away and let go of his hand, breaking the contact before it went too far. Harry felt a horrible feeling, rejected but he knew she was right; knew they couldn't..._shouldn't _linger in the hallway but she was so calming. Something about being around Hermione made him relax and he felt like he could open up to her, tell her how he was feeling. Walking in silence down the corridor with Harry's pulse going quicker and quicker with every step, panic rising until they made it to the fresh air of the open courtyard where a million stars swirled gently above their heads.

The Tolling of the clock told them it was 1 in the morning but Harry had to get some air, had to breathe and he tossed off the cloak, taking a long inhale of breath. Hermione did the same thing, too infected by his enthusiasm to air on the side of caution. In the deserted courtyard the two of them could hear the tiniest whistle of wind in the air as it caressed the trees with the fingers of a fleeting and foolish lover who would return when the mood suited them. It took them a moment to relax, to revel in the peace and quiet of an early morning when the world was still abed and the stars were the only audience.

"Can I vent a bit?" he asked, worried she would say no.

"Of course, what is it?"

"It's everything Hermione you know I didn't put my name into that goblet, and now I have to breathe underwater and find a date and the _worst_ part of it all, I can't dance. I am going to have to humiliate myself in front of the whole school and-"

"Calm down!" Hermione laughed, touching his cheek, "here come on."

"Where?" he asked and she pulled him closer.

"I can't do anything about the other things but I can at least help with the dancing." she laughed and placed his hand on her slender waist.

Harry gulped feeling his stomach rise in his throat as she counted for him, 1 2 3 and so on, her chestnut hair curling around his neck as she tucked her face into the side of his neck as slowly he got the hang of things. He twirled her, allowing her to laugh, and a real genuine smile to spread across her face. Harry grinned back, smiling as he spun behind her and enjoying the moment. Soon he was relaxing the stress seeping out of his shoulders and he damn-near fainted with Hermione having to hold him upright. Her hands tightened around him and she hugged him again, allowing him to regain his footing and then it happened. His green eyes, had they always been so vivid, so beautiful? He leaned down, his mouth which smelled of butterbeer and pumpkin juice close enough that if she leaned up she could...kiss him if she wanted.

The fact that she did want to was a surprise her but she was not sure how he would react if she did. Harry wanted to as well, but he was not about to let her now that. Still, he was so close she leaned forward, he leaned in and it was just about to happen when she noticed a pair of fireflies dancing low to the ground. How odd. It took her a moment to realize that she was looking not at a set of fireflies but into the eyes of...

"Mrs. Norris!" she hissed and pulled the cloak over both of them, "Run!" and they took off down the corridor back to gryffindor house for what seemed like forever. Harry, out of breath as they finally lost sight of those beady eyes.

They finally made it back, Harry struggling to hold back a huge yawn as they discovered -thankfully- that the Fat Lady had become very drunk and swung open as she slept. Snoring so loud that it sounded as if an angry mountain troll was grunting about the hallways. Hermione giggled, shushing Harry with a finger to her lips as they climbed into the circular room and Hermione pulled the heavy door shut causing the fat lady to grunt, snort and mumble about something unintelligible before starting to snore again. Harry, unable to help himself, burst out laughing and slapped Hermione on the back as she doubled over. Both of them laughing and collapsing into the velvet armchairs.

"Lost 'em!" Hermione laughed. "We _actually _outran a cat!"

"Yeah," Said Harry grinning, "but we never did finish our dance."

"Well," Hermione said, letting out a huge yawn, "It's almost two in the morning and we have classes in about six hours."

"Yeah," Harry agreed glumly, "You go ahead, I haven't been able to sleep for weeks."

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment, "Wait here."

She came down again with a bottle of what appeared to be yellow water and uncorked it, handing it to him and motioning for him to inhale. He did as instructed and swallowed it when she told him to. Ugh! it was disgusting and Harry gagged and coughing spit into the nearest flowerpot while Hermione took and closed the bottle. Slipping it into her pocket before sitting him back down in his chair.

"What is that?" Harry asked spitting into his handkerchief.

"Essence of Marigold, it is my very favorite flower you know." she smiled, "a natural sedative one swig and you'll be sawing logs in no time."

Harry laughed, leave it to Hermione to clear up all his problems. Marigolds were her favorite, he noted as he felt his brain swimming. The second task...he had to breathe underwater... he was underwater. He felt his eyes closing, finally, it was warm and dark and he felt safe. Hermione tucked a blanket around him, sleeping in an armchair was not against school rules and he looked very comfortable. Slowly, she removed his glasses and put them on the end table with Harry still slightly awake. She was just about to head up to bed when she turned looking down at the sleepy young man and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Harry..." she whispered and headed up to bed herself.


End file.
